[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 989 Reported in Senate (RS)]
<DOC>
Calendar No. 176
117th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 989
[Report No. 117-46]
To establish a Native American language resource center in furtherance
of the policy set forth in the Native American Languages Act.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 25, 2021
Mr. Schatz (for himself, Ms. Smith, and Ms. Murkowski) introduced the
following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on
Indian Affairs
December 2, 2021
Reported by Mr. Schatz, with an amendment
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed
in italic]
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To establish a Native American language resource center in furtherance
of the policy set forth in the Native American Languages Act.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
<DELETED>SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.</DELETED>
<DELETED> This Act may be cited as the ``Native American Language
Resource Center Act of 2021''.</DELETED>
<DELETED>SEC. 2. PURPOSES.</DELETED>
<DELETED> The purposes of this Act are to further the policies set
forth in the Native American Languages Act (25 U.S.C. 2901 et seq.) by
creating a national resource center and, through such national resource
center and actions, to--</DELETED>
<DELETED> (1) preserve, protect, and promote the rights and
freedom of Native Americans to use, practice, and develop
Native American languages (as defined in section 103 of the
Native American Languages Act (25 U.S.C. 2902));</DELETED>
<DELETED> (2) allow the United States to fulfill its trust
responsibility to Native American communities and address the
effects of past discrimination against Native American language
speakers;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (3) support revitalization of Native American
languages;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (4) encourage and support the use of Native
American languages as a medium of instruction, including use as
a medium of education in schools operated by Tribes, States,
territories, the Federal Government, and Native American
language educational organizations;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (5) encourage and support the use and development
of Native American languages as the medium of instruction for a
wide variety of age levels and academic content
areas;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (6) support metrics aligned with the Native
American language of instruction, including assessments,
qualifications, and processes based on well-demonstrated best
practices in Native American language medium
education;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (7) identify--</DELETED>
<DELETED> (A) barriers to Native American language
education and learning within Federal laws;
and</DELETED>
<DELETED> (B) actions needed for alignment with the
Native American Languages Act (25 U.S.C. 2901 et
seq.);</DELETED>
<DELETED> (8) encourage and support elementary schools,
secondary schools, and institutions of higher education to
include Native American languages in the curriculum in the same
manner as other world languages, including through cooperative
agreements and distance education, and to grant proficiency in
Native American languages the same full academic credit as
proficiency in other world languages;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (9) encourage and support the development of
appropriate teacher preparation programming for the teaching
of, and through, Native American languages, including
appropriate alternative pathways to teacher
certification;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (10) provide a resource base to provide
information to Federal, Tribal, State, territory, and local
governments and Native American educational organizations to
allow the spread of best practices in the use, practice, and
development of Native American languages in Native American
communities, including use in educational
institutions;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (11) provide a resource base for the use of
technology in intensive community-, land-, and archive-based
programs, as well as hybrid and collaborative programs in
supporting the retention, use, development, and teaching of
Native American languages by government and private
entities;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (12) provide a developmental base from which
interested Tribal colleges and universities and other Native
American entities might develop fully functioning Native
American language medium education systems that include
associated preschool, elementary school, secondary school, and
adult education programs conducted through the medium of Native
American languages;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (13) provide a means to further collaboration
among formal government, institutional, and community-based
Native American language programs, resources, and research
efforts with additional access to international best practices
in indigenous language revitalization; and</DELETED>
<DELETED> (14) develop a support center system for Native
American language participants to gather and share helpful
information and experiences.</DELETED>
<DELETED>SEC. 3. NATIVE AMERICAN LANGUAGE RESOURCE CENTER.</DELETED>
<DELETED> Section 603 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.
1123) is amended--</DELETED>
<DELETED> (1) by redesignating subsections (b) and (c) as
subsections (c) and (d), respectively;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (2) by inserting after subsection (a) the
following:</DELETED>
<DELETED> ``(b) Native American Language Resource Center
Authorized.--</DELETED>
<DELETED> ``(1) In general.--The Secretary is authorized to
make a grant to, or enter into a contract with, an eligible
entity for the purpose of--</DELETED>
<DELETED> ``(A) establishing, strengthening, and
operating a Native American language resource and
training center as described in paragraph (2);
and</DELETED>
<DELETED> ``(B) staffing the center with individuals
who have high-level fluency in American Indian, Alaska
Native, and Native Hawaiian languages and are
experienced with Native American language education in
preschool, elementary school, secondary school, adult
education, and higher education programs.</DELETED>
<DELETED> ``(2) Purposes of center.--The Native American
language resource center established under paragraph (1) shall
serve as a resource to--</DELETED>
<DELETED> ``(A) improve the capacity to teach and
learn Native American languages and further Native
American language acquisition;</DELETED>
<DELETED> ``(B) preserve, protect, and promote the
rights and freedom of Native Americans to use,
practice, and develop Native American
languages;</DELETED>
<DELETED> ``(C) allow the United States to fulfill
its trust responsibility to Native American communities
and address the effects of past discrimination against
Native American language speakers;</DELETED>
<DELETED> ``(D) support revitalization of Native
American languages;</DELETED>
<DELETED> ``(E) encourage and support the use of
Native American languages as a medium of instruction,
including use as a medium of education in schools
operated by Tribes, States, the Federal Government, and
Native American language educational
organizations;</DELETED>
<DELETED> ``(F) encourage and support the use and
development of Native American languages as the medium
of instruction for a wide variety of age levels and
academic content areas;</DELETED>
<DELETED> ``(G) support metrics aligned with the
Native American language of instruction, including
assessments, qualifications, and processes based on
well-demonstrated best practices in Native American
language medium education;</DELETED>
<DELETED> ``(H) identify barriers to Native American
language education and learning within Federal laws and
actions needed for alignment with the Native American
Languages Act (25 U.S.C. 2901);</DELETED>
<DELETED> ``(I) encourage and support elementary
schools, secondary schools, and institutions of higher
education to include Native American languages in the
curriculum in the same manner as other world languages,
including through cooperative agreements and distance
education, and to grant proficiency in Native American
languages the same full academic credit as proficiency
in other world languages;</DELETED>
<DELETED> ``(J) encourage and support the
development of appropriate teacher preparation
programming for the teaching of, and through, Native
American languages, including appropriate alternative
pathways to teacher certification;</DELETED>
<DELETED> ``(K) provide a resource base to provide
information to Federal, Tribal, State, and local
governments and Native American educational
organizations to allow the spread of best practices in
the use, practice, and development of Native American
languages in Native American communities, including use
in educational institutions;</DELETED>
<DELETED> ``(L) provide a resource base for the use
of technology in intensive community-, land-, and
archive-based programs, as well as hybrid and
collaborative programs in supporting the retention,
use, development, and teaching of Native American
languages by government and private entities;</DELETED>
<DELETED> ``(M) support the acquisition of distance
learning technologies and training for parents,
students, teachers, and learning support staff,
including the compilation and curation of digital
libraries and other online resources in target Native
American languages, the development of distance
learning curricula appropriate for preschool,
elementary school, secondary school, adult education,
and postsecondary education, the pedagogical training
for teachers, and other efforts necessary to continue
Native American language acquisition through distance
learning;</DELETED>
<DELETED> ``(N) provide a developmental base from
which interested Tribal colleges and universities and
other Native American entities might develop fully
functioning Native American language medium education
systems that include associated preschool, elementary
school, secondary school, and adult education programs
conducted through the medium of Native American
languages;</DELETED>
<DELETED> ``(O) provide a means to further
collaboration among formal government, institutional,
and community-based Native American language programs,
resources, and research efforts with additional access
to international best practices in indigenous language
revitalization;</DELETED>
<DELETED> ``(P) develop a support center system for
Native American language participants to gather and
share helpful information and experiences;
and</DELETED>
<DELETED> ``(Q) address any of the purposes of
foreign language centers included under this section
if, in doing so, the Native American language resource
center--</DELETED>
<DELETED> ``(i) does so as a subsidiary
activity;</DELETED>
<DELETED> ``(ii) focuses benefits on Native
Americans living in Native American
communities, or closely tied to such
communities; and</DELETED>
<DELETED> ``(iii) ensures that one of the
outcomes being strengthened through this
subparagraph is the use of one or more Native
American languages in a Native American
community.</DELETED>
<DELETED> ``(3) Definitions.--In this subsection:</DELETED>
<DELETED> ``(A) Eligible entity.--The term `eligible
entity' means--</DELETED>
<DELETED> ``(i) an institution of higher
education;</DELETED>
<DELETED> ``(ii) an entity within an
institution of higher education with dedicated
responsibility for Native American language and
culture education;</DELETED>
<DELETED> ``(iii) a consortium of such
institutions; or</DELETED>
<DELETED> ``(iv) a consortium of such
institutions and other entities with unique
responsibilities for Native American
languages.</DELETED>
<DELETED> ``(B) Native american; native american
language.--The terms `Native American' and `Native
American language' have the meanings given those terms
in section 103 of the Native American Languages Act (25
U.S.C. 2902).</DELETED>
<DELETED> ``(4) Authorization of appropriations.--There are
authorized to be appropriated to carry out this subsection,
$3,000,000 for each fiscal year.''; and</DELETED>
<DELETED> (3) in the matter preceding paragraph (1) of
subsection (c), as redesignated by paragraph (1), by striking
``subsection (a)'' and inserting ``this section''.</DELETED>
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Native American Language Resource
Center Act of 2021''.
SEC. 2. NATIVE AMERICAN LANGUAGE RESOURCE CENTERS.
(a) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to further align the
resources provided by the Department of Education with the policies set
forth in the Native American Languages Act (25 U.S.C. 2901 et seq.)
through establishment of a program within the Department of Education
to support 1 or more Native American language resource centers.
(b) In General.--The Secretary of Education is authorized to make a
grant to, or enter into a contract with, an eligible entity for the
purpose of--
(1) establishing, strengthening, and operating a Native
American language resource center; and
(2) staffing the center with individuals with relevant
expertise and experience, including staff who speak American
Indian and Alaska Native languages and the Native Hawaiian
language and have worked in language education in the American
Indian and Alaska Native languages and the Native Hawaiian
language in a preschool, elementary school, secondary school,
adult education, or higher education program.
(c) Authorized Activities.--The Native American language resource
center established under subsection (b) shall carry out activities to--
(1) improve the capacity to teach and learn Native American
languages;
(2) further Native American language use and acquisition;
(3) preserve, protect, and promote the rights and freedom
of Native Americans to use, practice, and develop Native
American languages in furtherance of--
(A) the policies set forth in the Native American
Languages Act (25 U.S.C. 2901 et seq.); and
(B) the United States trust responsibility to
Native American communities;
(4) address the effects of past discrimination and ongoing
inequities experienced by Native American language speakers;
(5) support the revitalization and reclamation of Native
American languages; and
(6) support the use of Native American languages as a
medium of instruction for a wide variety of age levels,
academic content areas, and types of schools, including Native
American language medium education.
(d) Additional Authorized Activities.--The Native American language
resource center established under subsection (b) may also carry out
activities--
(1) to encourage and support the use of Native American
languages within educational systems in the same manner as
other world languages, including by encouraging State
educational agencies, local educational agencies, and
institutions of higher education to offer Native American
language courses the same full academic credit as courses in
other world languages;
(2) to support the development, adoption, and use of
educational outcome metrics aligned with the Native American
language of instruction, including assessments, qualifications,
and processes based on promising practices in Native American
language medium education;
(3) to provide assistance to Native American language
programs seeking Federal resources;
(4) to encourage and support teacher preparation programs
that prepare teachers to teach Native American languages and to
use Native American languages as a medium of instruction,
including by disseminating promising practices and developing
pedagogical programming and through appropriate alternative
pathways to teacher certification;
(5) to provide information and resources--
(A) on promising practices in the use and
revitalization of Native American languages in Native
American communities, including use in educational
institutions; and
(B) for the use of technology in school and
community-based Native American language programs to
support the retention, use, and teaching of Native
American languages;
(6) to support the use of distance learning technologies
and training for parents, students, teachers, and learning
support staff associated with Native American language
programs, including--
(A) the compilation and curation of digital
libraries and other online resources for Native
American languages, except that any materials collected
by the center shall only be materials provided by a
Native American language program or Native American
community;
(B) the development of distance learning curricula
appropriate for preschool, elementary school, secondary
school, adult education, and postsecondary education;
(C) pedagogical training for Native American
language teachers; and
(D) other efforts necessary to continue Native
American language acquisition through distance
learning;
(7) to provide technical assistance for Native American
communities and school systems to develop Native American
language medium education programs in preschool, elementary
school, secondary school, or adult education programs conducted
through the medium of Native American languages;
(8) to support Native American language programs and Native
American communities in--
(A) accessing international best practices,
resources, and research in indigenous language
revitalization; and
(B) gathering and sharing technical assistance,
promising practices, and experiences;
(9) for the operation of intensive programs, including
summer institutes, to train Native American language speakers,
to provide professional development, and to improve Native
American language instruction through preservice and in-service
language training for teachers; and
(10) that otherwise support the Native American language
resource center established under subsection (b) to carry out
the activities required in subsection (c).
(e) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) ESEA definitions.--The terms ``elementary school'',
``local educational agency'', ``secondary school'', and ``State
educational agency'' have the meanings given the terms in
section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of
1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801).
(2) Eligible entity.--The term ``eligible entity'' means--
(A) an institution of higher education;
(B) an entity within an institution of higher
education with dedicated expertise in Native American
language and culture education; or
(C) a consortium that includes 1 or more
institutions of higher education or 1 or more entities
described in subparagraph (B).
(3) Institution of higher education.--The term
``institution of higher education'' has the meaning given the
term in section 101 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20
U.S.C. 1001).
(4) Native american; native american language.--The terms
``Native American'' and ``Native American language'' have the
meanings given those terms in section 103 of the Native
American Languages Act (25 U.S.C. 2902).
(f) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be
appropriated to carry out this section, $3,000,000 for each fiscal
year.
Calendar No. 176
117th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 989
[Report No. 117-46]
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To establish a Native American language resource center in furtherance
of the policy set forth in the Native American Languages Act.
_______________________________________________________________________
December 2, 2021
Reported with an amendment